Rotavirus Vaccination and Intussusception — Act Two — NEJM

Editorial

Rotavirus Vaccination and Intussusception — Act Two
Harry B. Greenberg, M.D.

N Engl J Med 2011; 364:2354-2355June 16, 2011

Article
The development of vaccines has been a triumph of modern medicine.1 In addition to the eradication of smallpox and the near-eradication of polio, the past 30 years has seen an impressive decline in many vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles, hepatitis B virus, serious pneumococcal infection, hemophilus influenza, and, recently, rotavirus. Vaccination has been an enormously powerful force for health improvement because of the large societal benefits provided with remarkably small risks. However, some have expressed worry that current vaccines are dangerous and represent a considerable threat to the health of the recipients.2 These concerns often do not include an analysis of the benefits as well as the risks of a given vaccine.


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Rotavirus Vaccination and Intussusception — Act Two — NEJM